Good morning, Greater Sudbury! Here are a few stories to start your day on this Thursday morning.
Police release limited info on 10.66% proposed budget hike
Greater Sudbury Police Service has tabled a proposed 2024 budget increase of $7.75 million, bringing their new total to more than $80 million, which is a 10.66-per-cent increase from 2023. This is the first year of multi-year budgeting for the city, with GSPS proposing an additional $5.6-million increase in 2025, or a 6.92-per-cent increase from the proposed jump in 2024. The police board deferred making a decision until next week, with follow-up meetings set for Oct. 30 and Nov. 1. The proposed increase is more than double the 4.7-per-cent increase cap city council requested from outside agencies the municipality funds. “It’s going to be a challenge,” Mayor Paul Lefebvre told Sudbury.com after today’s police board meeting, adding that they’re balancing the need to keep taxes low with service levels.
Winter is coming, and Sudbury’s shelters may not be ready
With winter on the way, and judging by the numbers, Sudbury may not have the shelter infrastructure to support those who are currently homeless and seeking overnight respite from the cold weather. The approximately 77 available shelter beds in Sudbury have been at or near capacity for the past 12 weeks, and with the weather changing, the need to be indoors is paramount, but perhaps unavailable. So much so that a man was taken to hospital in the early morning hours on Oct. 23 with symptoms of hypothermia and exposure after he fell asleep outside the at-capacity Off The Street shelter at 200 Larch Street. “We do know that Off the Street Shelter was at capacity that night – we are increasingly at capacity most nights now that the weather is becoming colder,” said Natalie Gauvin, a spokesperson for the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA), which runs the shelter (though it is city owned.)
Lockerby students canvassing for cancer fundraiser Thursday
It's that time of year again at Sudbury's Lockerby Composite School, where students will again be canvassing for the annual Kids Caring for Kids Cancer Drive: Remembering Laura Cotesta. The event is being held on Thursday, Oct. 26. Students will call on local businesses and neighbourhoods seeking financial pledges that directly support pediatric cancer care at the Shirley and Jim Fielding Northeast Cancer Centre at Health Sciences North and help keep kids in need of care closer to home, said a news release from the school. The school advises that participating students will have physical pledge forms, as well as a QR code that will allow residents to donate directly to a custom Lockerby Cancer Drive fundraising webpage. Lockerby is encouraging residents who are visited by Lockerby students to please give generously to help support pediatric cancer care. If you are unable to give in person, please consider making a donation online.
Non-partisan vigil for Middle East peace happening Oct. 26
The Sudbury Interfaith Dialogue is inviting Sudburians to a non-partisan vigil for peace in support of all who are suffering in the Middle East. The vigil will be held Thursday, Oct. 26 at 6 p.m. in the foyer at Tom Davies Square. A release from the host states “prayers and laments will be offered by representatives of different local faiths, including the Bahai, Christian, Sikh, Hindu, Jewish, and Muslim communities.” Mayor Paul Lefebvre will provide welcoming remarks. The vigil is in support of those caught up in the conflict between Israel and Palestinian militant groups led by Hamas, which began on Oct. 7 with a surprise, but co-ordinated offensive on Israel. The attack began in the morning with a barrage of rockets launched from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip against Israel before approximately 2,500 Palestinian militants breached the Gaza–Israel barrier, killing at least 1,400 Israelis, including 260 people at a music festival in Re'im. Unarmed civilian hostages and captured Israeli soldiers were taken to the Gaza Strip, including women and children. Israel began conducting retaliatory strikes before formally declaring war on Hamas a day later. Nearly 5,100 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip since Israel launched its campaign more than two weeks ago, according to Palenstinian health officials.
New hydro transmission lines linked to critical minerals, steel
Hydro One has been given the green light to construct three priority transmission lines linking Northern and Southern Ontario as part of Ontario’s efforts to become a leader in battery-electric vehicle manufacturing. Announced this week, Energy Minister Todd Smith gave the go ahead to the Ontario Energy Board to amend Hydro One Networks Inc.'s (Hydro One) transmission license to develop and construct three new priority transmission lines to meet growing electricity demand in northeast and eastern Ontario. “We’re building a made-in-Ontario supply chain that’s connecting the province’s critical minerals and clean steel in the north, to auto makers and battery manufacturers across Ontario,” said Smith in a news release. “These three new transmission lines will power that vision, helping to electrify Algoma Steel’s conversion to electric arc furnace as well as new homes, critical mineral development, and other job creators in northeast and eastern Ontario.”
Gélinas continues to argue against high-paid agency nurses
Ontario NDP health-care critic France Gélinas continues to hammer the provincial Conservative government over the issue of hiring for-profit agency nurses at a time when there is a critical shortage of nurses. Gélinas raised the issue in the Ontario legislature Monday. Gélinas has previously outlined her concern that highly-paid agency nurses are being used to fill the increasing gaps in the shortage of nurses in hospitals and long-term care homes. "Ontario is facing a health human resources crisis. Whether we look at emergency room closures, at the 2.2 million Ontarians who don’t have access to primary care, or the long wait lists for surgery, it is getting worse, not better. Does the Minister believe that nursing agencies are part of the solution to Ontario’s health human resources crisis?” Ontario health minister Sylvia Jones responded to Gélinas by quoting a new report that said Ontarians "had the highest percentage of people with a regular health-care provider at 90.6 per cent," said Jones.
